Finally Free
by DreamWeaver1820
Summary: Treated like a slave Anna accepted her life as it was. Until one wintery day the Fates finally smiled down upon her and set her free. However, to keep her freedom she must try and find her true destiny or be shackled once more to a life of slavery.
1. Chapter 1

It was mid-December and one of the worst winters on record in Mercer County Kentucky.

It was cold in the second floor Master bedroom. The wood stove down stairs must had burned down to embers giving a chill throughout the 100 year old farm house. Anna knew she should get up and stoke the fire but wanted only to burrow deeper in the bed covers and stay there till Spring.

Shaking her head at such wishful thinking, she rolled over and looked at her bedside alarm clock - 4:49 a.m. Anna's routine for the past 10 years - ever since she'd gotten married - was to be up by 5 a.m. Dawn would be coming soon along with the beginning of another day of back breaking chores. After so many years of getting up early her internal clock had been programed by habit to wake her up, get out of bed and get the day started. She always woke before the bedside alarm clock struck 5. She had been trained well.

Reluctantly reaching over, she flipped the alarm switch off before it woke Lawrence, her husband. Having him wake up before he was ready to get out of bed was a dangerous thing. At the moment he lay all tangled in the covers and quilts next to her snoring so loudly that it nearly shook the house. Anna cautiously sat up in bed and stared at the man next to her. The room was still dark but she didn't need light to picture the man who had owned her for the past ten years.

He was short - he barely was an inch taller than her. He was over weight and balding. He had disgusting habits like drinking anything and everything. He chewed chaw. His breath stunk and his teeth were an ugly brownish color. Bathing for him was nearly none existent. He hated everybody. He always believed everyone was out to get him and were talking about him behind his back. He was an older man nearing his fifties. They had gotten married when she was just seventeen. It wasn't her choosing, but her daddy's. Her daddy for a long time admired a speed boat that Lawrence owned and with some negotiating between the two men they traded. Her daddy got the speed boat and Lawrence got a young untouched virgin. A justice of the peace - which was related to Lawrence - preformed the ceremony and she became his wife till death do they part and to do with as he pleased.

Lawrence Beggs had been married twice before and both wives mysteriously disappeared. From the get go Anna learned not to open her mouth to state any type of opinion that she might have or to refuse an order he'd give her. If she did, then a good back hand to her face shut her up right quick. If that didn't solve the problem with a wayward wife a good razor strap beating got his point across.

Realizing that she wasted too much time thinking about her fucked up life, she quickly donned her bathrobe and went down stairs to start breakfast. It didn't take long for her to hear the heavy footsteps of her husband coming down to the kitchen. She quickly poured him some coffee and sat it on the kitchen table.

Lawrence was dressed in overalls, boots, a heavy parka, gloves and sock cap. Taking a few sips of his coffee he told Anna, "I'm goin' outside to shovel the driveway off. I'm needin' to go into town for some things." Putting the cup back on the table he looked at her and demanded that breakfast be ready when he got back inside.

She nodded her understanding as he went outside. She knew what he was going into town for. To see Phyllis Stone. Anna knew they were having an affair and she really didn't care. Phyllis kept him satisfied and left her alone. Anna considered it a win-win.

She made his favorites - eggs, ham, biscuits and gravy, pancakes and sausage.

She put the food in the oven to keep warm because she didn't know exactly when he'd be back inside. Anna then went upstairs to their bedroom to change into her everyday clothes.

Walking into the room she went towards the window that overlooked the front yard, she admired God's handiwork. Everything looked so pure and pristine. Huge snowflakes still floated down from the heavens and covered everything in sight - trees, bushes, cars. A foot of snow had already fallen during the early morning hours. Anna loved winter. She loved it even more now. She loved it because her husband of ten years had decided upon waking to shovel their driveway. She smiled at that.

She smiled because Lawrence was halfway done with the shoveling when he stopped and stood still. He clutched at his chest. The look on his face was one of pain, shock and horror. The puffs of breath were rapidly escaping his gaping mouth like a locomotive chugging up a steep incline. He turned towards the house and took a couple of steps before he collapsed to his knees. He looked up to the bedroom window where his wife stood. Lawrence reached out his hand towards her beseeching her for help. Anna just stood there watching. No emotion crossed her lovely face. All the emotions she once had died a very long time ago.

And so she watched as he still held onto the snow shovel and tried to use it to get back on his feet. Another grim painful look on his face told her that he was weakening. Lawrence was having a heart attack. He had over exerted himself shoveling the snow. He fell forward and rolled over onto the wet concrete.

Anna just stood at the window. Watching the whole scene play out. She didn't budge. She didn't run to call 911. She didn't care.

They lived in the country and the nearest neighbor was about 15 miles down the road. No one drove by their house especially not now during a snow storm. The snow plows wouldn't be down the county road for another day or two. Their road wasn't that important to clear off.

Anna just watched. She didn't know how long she stood at the window. Lawrence, the bastard, had been still for the past 20 minutes. She grabbed her cell phone from her nightstand and flipped to the weather app. 15 degrees outside with a wind chill of -20.

Slowly getting dressed, she went downstairs and left the house through the garage. She made her way up to her husband. Standing over him she watched for signs of life - no puffs of breath were coming from his nose or his mouth. His eyes stared up at the sky unblinking. The snow had stopped but he had a slight dusting on him.

Anna stood there looking at her dead husband. A husband of 10 long years. Ten long years of hate, mistreatment, of evil. A husband who had ripped her heart to shreds and destroyed her soul. She turned without looking back.

Once back inside the house it had been 40 minutes since Lawrence went outside. Finally deciding it was time to call 911, she told the dispatch that she believed her husband had a heart attack shoveling their driveway. "Please send someone quick!"

She sat in the recliner facing the window waiting for the EMT's to arrive. The only thing that kept going over and over in her head while she waited was _he's dead and I'm finally FREE!_

tbc


	2. Chapter 2

Once the ambulance arrived to her house, along with the local sheriff, it was confirmed that the bastard was dead. He had over exerted himself shoveling the snow and died of a heart attack. She told the police that he was going outside to shovel off the drive way while she had made his breakfast. She then went up stairs to get dressed. Looked out the window and saw him laying there. She immediately dialed 911. Anna broke down crying, repeating over and over "I can't believe he's gone! What am I going to do?" A couple of days later the police along with the coroner's report filed it as an accidental death. Anna was now officially a widow.

* * *

Anna Beggs sat quietly in the leather chair across from the cluttered mahogany desk of the lawyer who was to inform her of the late Mr Beggs' Will. She was dressed in black to put on the show of a grieving widow. She did not know what to expect. So she just waited.

It had been a week since they laid her husband to rest. The town had nothing but glowing things about him. How a great provider and hard worker he was. How a loving husband to his dear wife. With the latter comment from the reverend, she felt the bile rise in her throat and had to swallow several times to keep it from coming up. The congregation felt sorry for her. A man as honorable and well like in the community as Lawrence Beggs was it was just a shame leaving a 27 year old woman alone in the world. If only they knew the truth about the devil's spawn they would be shocked and disgusted.

The lawyer sitting behind his desk was a young man - probably in his early 30's. Upon his wall hung his diploma - Boston University School of Law. What he was doing in the backwoods of Kentucky was a mystery to her. Looking at the certificate of graduation the year was 2011. Four years of practicing law. She thought about it. It didn't matter if he was any good or not, she was just here to have Lawrence's Will read to her.

Mr. Jackson held in his hands the Will of Lawrence Beggs. He was silently reading over it for the third time since she's been sitting there. Anna hadn't said a word. She had her hands folded in her lap and her eyes down cast. Old habits were hard to break.

On the outside she looked like a mourning young widow but on the inside she was ecstatic. She was free. No more hard labor on the farm. No more beatings. No more things that Lawrence made her do. They had been unspeakable disgusting things that a human being - let alone a husband - should never make a woman do. That part of her marriage was going to take a long time to forget. The scars both physically and mentally ran deep. There would be no way she could or would let another man touch her the way he had.. Tears welled up in her eyes. Lawrence ruined her from having any kind of relationship with a man. She was damaged goods.

Looking up from the Will, the lawyer handed her a box of Kleenex and began by saying, "I'm sorry for your loss, Mrs Beggs."

Anna just nodded and dabbed at her eyes. But inside she was saying to herself _I'm not sorry at all._

"So let's get on with this."

In a meek voice Anna asked, "Isn't Lawrence's," saying his name nearly made her throw up, "brother, Aubrey, suppose to be here too?"

Her late husband didn't have much kin. Just his brother, Aubrey. There parents died years ago, so it was just those two - which was two too many.

Mr. Jackson sat for a moment then said, "I scheduled his reading of the Will four days from now. With him being an over the road truck driver that was the best time to schedule the reading."

Confused Anna replied, "But I thought all family members were suppose to be present at readings of Wills and such."

"Well, I thought it prudent that you hear what your late husband had drawn out in his Will first."

Dread started to blossom in Anna's gut. She felt her freedom starting to slip away. Her inner soul grabbed onto her well deserved freedom and demanded it to stay. Taking a deep shaky breath Anna told the lawyer to start.

"You can contest the Will in Probate Court, but that could take six months to a year. I've even seen some take longer than that." Mr. Jackson looked sympathetic.

She nodded her understanding. She wringed the Kleenex in her hand, wrapping it around her finger in a nervous action. Her mind was going ninety to nothing thinking what did Lawrence do now to her?"

"Well, what did my husband have to say, Mr. Jackson."

"Mrs. Beggs this a very unusual Will." The lawyer didn't know exactly where to start." Clearing his throat he said, "Mr. Beggs left the farm - the house, vehicles, live stock, the 300 acres - everything to his brother Aubrey."

Anna said nothing and so Mr. Jackson continued. "He left the money in the bank to his brother also." Looking at the young woman in front of him he did not know what exactly to say or how to say it. He had never had a Will specify such outlandish stipulations.

"Is that all?" the young woman asked. She did not seem saddened or angry that she would get nothing out of a ten year marriage.

Mr. Jackson pursed his lips and quietly said, "No there is more."

Of course there was; leave it to Lawrence, even in death, to manipulate and control her.

"Proceed, Sir."

Laying the legal papers on top of his desk he looked at her straight in the eyes. "I really don't know how to tell you this Mrs. Beggs, but Mr. Beggs has made it perfectly clear that you were to marry Aubry upon his death."

Anna turned white as a ghost. Even in death Lawrence controlled her. But this time he could not do anything about it. She quickly formulated a plan. A plan that she had been perfecting over the years.

She would simply disappear! She would disappear and take her hard earned Freedom with her and be damned who stood in her way!


End file.
